HD Online – Watch Upload and Share High-Definition Videos

With the ever expanding acceptance of high definition video it’s no wonder that making a list of sites that support it is an ongoing task. So this time around it’s my turn to update you on all the latest and greatest places where you can find, watch, upload and share HD video online.

Streaming of 720p is difficult as it requires around 2.5mb/second and a recent study showed that most broadband has a median of about 2.0mb/sec. That means there’s still a lack of pipeline available in many places so putting resources into streaming it is wasteful. Many places may begin offering it but you’ll probably run into recurring buffering problems that will be frustrating for viewers. 480p on the other hand can stream fine through that size pipeline and will probably remain the predominant resolution for the next few years. 720p will surely still be available but as download only, the same with 1080p which could require massive pipeline to stream properly.

Vimeo HD– The place to upload, store and share your HD videos with the world. Full bore 1280×720 hogging up about 1.7mb/sec. For $59.95 a year you get 5000 HD streams including embeddable player. H.264 and AAC audio, 5000kbits/sec. Over 1.7 million members and around 11,000 videos uploaded a day.

Veoh– Internet TV (not available in all parts of the world) which allows users to find and watch HD and standard definition video from big studios, indie production houses and user-created content. Shows can either be streamed or downloaded for later viewing.

Facebook Video– What? The social network offers HD video? They certainly do thanks to their Video Application. You can embed it in both profiles and pages. They’re using H.264 and AAC audio in an MPEG4 container. Up to 1280×720 pixels and 30 frames per second.

The HD Web – The site states that you should have a 7.5Mb/sec connection or higher as well as a 2.4Ghz processor or better to watch their 720p Hd video offerings. For 1080p with 5.1 surround sound the requirements are obviously higher still. Powered and run by Akamai they offer HD videos beyond 2GB in size and up to 1080p. H.264 encoding, 5Mb/sec streaming. The Akamai network contains over 25,000 servers in more than 650 cities across 69 countries.

ON Networks– You can either register as a professional in their system or simply check out a wide variety of HD video. If you’re a professional, whether on screen or behind the scenes, they’re interested in hearing from you. They create much of the video themselves with a professional level of quality and it’s all shot in HD. If you’re more the viewing type then it’s a great place to see

Monetize Media – “A robust all-in-one video platform with both live streaming and on-demand delivery. Their service includes content management, encoding, embeddable player, aggregation and advertising modules as well as syndication. There’s a free trial and packages are Silver and Gold For $500 setup and $99 or $1199 a month respectively.

Vuze– Another downloadable HD video player with a peer-to-peer backend (bittorrent). Let’s you watch Hd video on everything from your mobile phone to the big screen in your living room via iTunes, PS3 and Xbox 360. The application takes care of figuring out what a device can show in way of format and encoding and does all the heavy lifting for you. Want to publish videos? They’re selling packages (no info available with contacting them) for video on demand in HD, distributed via their player and geo-targeted, monetized and branded.

Brightcove– Brightcove and Adobe have been working together for a long time and when the latest version of the Flash player was available Brightcove was right there and ready to offer up HD video online. The popular on-demand online video platform gives you the power to publish and distribute video up to HD quality as well as content management, branded players, metrics and more.

CBS HD – Still in the testing stages of streaming HD but only 2 minute clips (only available in the US as well). They have been working on it since last year and not much has come of it up until now.

Hulu– Three different levels of quality including 360p, 480p and 720p. The first two are streamed directly and the third is progressively downloaded. There are currently no plans to utilize 1080p because of bandwidth and processing.

Movie Locker – No file limits, no size limits. Buy and sell HD video online free but you can also pay for extra space, uploads and more. The service only supports Windows Media Player and computers must be online to watch the videos due to the DRM. Payments for videos can be made via Paypal. Commission for the site is 20% or 50 cents, whichever is higher. It’s an interesting way to offer online video for rent but has serious limitations (only WMV, no Mac, etc)

NetFlix– One of the leaders in downloadable online video content. Over 12,000 choices to stream to TV and PC via players on TiVo, the Roku player, the Xbox 360 and Samsung and LG set top boxes. No surround sound on the downloadable or streaming, stereo sound only.

Amazon– Some time late last year Amazon showed up on the scene with streaming HD via TiVo (according to Gizmodo). An extension of their Amazon Unbox service, it has also shown up on the Roku players.

Itunes– HD downloads were launched earlier this year with movies at about $19.99, movie rentals at $4.99 and HD TV (available earlier) for $2.99 an episode with a pass for entire seasons available as well.

TinyPic– The Photobucket owned photo sharing site expanded to video and now also offers HD sharing through their site.

Sevenload– Is a social media platform made to let you share you videos with nearly everyone. The site does videos as well as images. Their help files are a bit on the thin side but videos can be no more than 200MB and they recommend MPEG4, H.264 and AAC audio with a resolution of at least 455x341px.

Miro– I recently wrote about this open source video player from the Participatory Culture Foundation. In their channel guide there are HD channels from all over the place and it offers full screen streaming. You can even get your own videos fed into the guide via RSS, etc. They state the offer more HD video than any other service on the web. Video from the likes of Discovery, PBS and The Onion.

DailyMotion– Offering up everything from Miley Cyrus to The Hunt for Gollum, DailyMotion is indeed moving and grooving with the HD crowd. Official content, creative content, you name it and they proudly stream it in HD. 1280X720 Truemotion VP6 codec, 1.3mb/sec MP3 stereo sound.

MetaCafe– Offering a wide variety of HD streaming and progressive download from big names in show business, music and more. Create channels, share video or just peruse the HD videos of others.

SmugMug– Power and Pro subscribers can upload 10 minute HD quality clips all the way up to ‘true Hi-Def’ which one would guess to be 1080p. They use the H.264 codec for encoding of videos and the site is powered by Akamai’s global network. Prices range from $39.95 to $149.95 per year.

SmoothHD– The Silverlight powered cooperation between Microsoft and Akamai. Works with IE and FF on Windows and Safari on Macs but requires a pretty hefty 3.2Ghz processor or more. It uses the AdaptiveEdge Streaming from Akamai to stream smoothly and continuously.

MotionBox– Offers an HD video player via their Premium package. The player is embeddable and offers full screen viewing. You can upload a variety of file types and the Premium account removes file size limits. Uses H.264, 1280×720 3-5Mbps and AAC audio and supports AVCHD.

While this list is long it’s certainly not exhaustive. There are more HD video sites online than one might imagine. Doing a Google search on “HD streaming video” or “HD video online” will net you so many results you won’t even know where to begin. As with all lists here at ReelSEO we welcome your input and will gladly extend the list with any sites that we are sure to have missed.

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